Tom Powers asks DA to launch investigation into candidate

Today (Oct. 31) I personally delivered the attached letter to District Attorney Mark Peterson’s office (at 3:18 p.m. PST) requesting an official investigation into AnaMarie Avila Farias’s official use of her time and resources at her Section 8 government job at the Contra Costa Housing Authority.

It has been brought to all of our taxpayers’ attention that on numerous times her officially signed government time card indicates she has been at work, being paid by taxpayers to be at work, but Ms. Farias has actually been elsewhere conducting her own personal business. In fact, one of the weeks she officially signs her time card saying she is at work, her Facebook posts (since deleted) actually indicate she is out of the country in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Using government time or resources for personal purposes is unlawful and, on behalf of County taxpayers, I am asking the District Attorney’s Office to conduct a full investigation of Ms. Farias’ potential misuse of taxpayers funds.

Please see attached letter to the District Attorney and back up documentation, which I ask you to include in any/all reports. Thank you.

– Tom Powers

Dear District Attorney Peterson & Deputy District Attorney Moawad,

I am a citizen, a taxpayer and a voter in Contra Costa County. I am writing to ask the District Attorney’s Office to launch a full investigation of Vice Mayor and Candidate for Supervisor AnaMarie Avila Farias’s potential illegal and improper use of taxpayer time and resources at her job as a Section 8 coordinator for the Contra Costa County Housing Authority.

I know under Government Code Section 8314 it’s unlawful for any government employee to use public resources for personal or campaign purposes.

It has been uncovered in the campaign that Ms. Farias has appeared to have been officially signing her government job time cards indicating that she was at work when she clearly was not and she was paid for days/times she was not at work and was on Facebook signed in elsewhere.

In one instance in December 2014, for example, Ms. Farias was signed into work during the work week and was paid by taxpayers for being at work that week – when in reality, she was on vacation in Vancouver, British Columbia during that same week. Her Facebook posts (since now deleted by Ms. Farias) verify this account.

Attached are the documents for your review – although I am sure there are other time cards you may want to request, review and investigate further.

Misusing taxpayers’ monies for personal purposes and intentionally lying about being at work at her Housing Authority government job when she is clearly not at work, is against the law. I would appreciate your investigating this issue further so the taxpayers of Contra Costa County can know in a transparent fashion whether Ms. Farias violated the law by misusing taxpayer funds.

Thank you for your assistance and I hope to hear back from you on this issue.

One comment

Wait, you didn’t file the form and submit the required documents? Damn you are dumb. However, if you had, you may have saved yourself some time.

This statement at the top form
Complaint Form

A. The District Attorney has limited resource to process complaints. All complaints will be reviewed by a Deputy District Attorney. Not all complaints are investigated.

B. The legal staff of the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is not permitted to engage in the private practice of law or to furnish legal advice in private civil matters and does not have the legal authority to assert your private individual rights.

C. The Special Operations Division does not conduct personal intake interviews or make appointments to accept the written complaint form.

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